Ph. D. student on forecasting the impacts of floods

Are you interested in working on socioeconomic impacts of climate extremes with the support of competent and friendly colleagues in an international environment? Are you looking for an employer that invests in sustainable employeeship and offers safe, favourable working conditions? We welcome you to apply for a Ph. D. student position at Uppsala University.

The Department of Earth Sciences at Uppsala University is Sweden´s largest and most versatile department of its kind with approximately 300 employees. Our activities are interdisciplinary and combine natural science and technology with social science. We have research programs in air, water and landscape science; geophysics; natural resources and sustainable development; petrology, mineralogy and tectonics; paleobiology, and wind energy. By investigating the history of Earth, we understand how our planet has developed over time and how sustainable development benefits from this knowledge. For more information: The Department of Earth Sciences.

The announced position is in the research program Air, Water and Landscape Science (LUVAL) which brings together research and education in Hydrology, Meteorology, Environmental Analysis and Physical Geography. The Ph. D. student will be part of the Swedish Centre for Impacts of Climate Extremes (more information here).

As Ph. D. student, you will work within the frame of the Doctoral Network project: “Understanding and Predicting Impacts of Climate Extremes under Global Change”, funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 101226348, which will formally start on 1st March 2026. The project’s international consortium is coordinated by Uppsala University. More information on the project can be found at: https://www.climes.se/climesdn/. You will be part of a leading cohort of early-career researchers studying different aspects of impacts of climate extremes, from public health to societal perspectives and agricultural impacts, and will have access to a rich programme of training activities and research exchanges. These are designed to enhance your career prospects in both academia and the private sector.

In accordance with MSCA rules, applicants must not have resided and not have carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Sweden for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately before the recruitment date – unless as part of a procedure for obtaining refugee status under the Geneva Convention. The applicant at the time of recruitment must be in their first 4 years (full-time equivalent) of research career and must not have been awarded a doctoral degree. The research career is counted from the date when the researcher obtained the degree entitling him or her to embark on a doctorate. Part-time research experience will be counted pro-rata.

Duties:

Your work will focus on developing impact-based forecasts of floods, which include different types of impacts, from economic losses to affected population and fatalities, along with cascading impacts and intangible losses. The final goal is to provide forecast information which may support and improve the effectiveness of early warning systems.  The duties may also include teaching and other departmental work up to 20%, which extends the employment accordingly. You will be based in Uppsala, Sweden, and are expected to primarily work on-site. As part of your duties, you will also be required to complete two in-person international secondments and attend in-person international meetings.

Requirements:

To meet the entry requirements for doctoral studies, you must

• hold a Master’s (second-cycle) degree in Hydrology, Climate Science, Natural Hazards, Physics, Water or Environmental Engineering or related topics, or
• have completed at least 240 credits in higher education, with at least 60 credits at Master’s level including an independent project worth at least 15 credits, or
• have acquired substantially equivalent knowledge in some other way.

The applicant must be proficient in spoken and written English.

Additional qualifications:

Experience in handling hydrological data and climate impact data and proficiency in programming are a merit. We also place weight on the ability to interact in a multi- and interdisciplinary research environment and have a drive to engage in collaboration within an international project.

About the employment:

The employment is a temporary position according to the Higher Education Ordinance chapter 5 § 7. Scope of employment 100 %. Starting date 1st September 2026 or as agreed. Placement: Uppsala

Rules governing PhD students are set out in the Higher Education Ordinance chapter 5, §§ 1-7 and in Uppsala University´s rules and guidelines.

The salary will follow the European MSCA DN rules, which you can find here: MSCA rules.

For further information about the position, please contact: Giuliano Di Baldassarre, Giuliano.Dibaldassarre@geo.uu.se, 018-471 7162

In this recruitment we have replaced the cover letter with questions that you are asked to answer when making your application. The answers will be used as a part of the selection process. Based on the application material, a short-list of candidates will be drawn. The short-listed candidates will be interviewed in digital format and references will be collected.

Please submit your application by 16 March 2026, UFV-PA 2026/139.

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